If you have been following my blog, you will know that I have a so-called “tradition” of posting a self-reflection on my birthday. But my 43rd birthday went by nothing on my blog. What happen?

No, I did not forget about this blog. Neither have I forgotten about my birthday. It’s just that this year’s birthday was a little different. I was busy. Super busy in fact. Busy preparing for the biggest event in my life. If you are following me on my Instagram or Facebook, you’ll know that I’ve gotten married 4 days after my birthday. Hence this year’s birthday had to take a back seat for the bigger event of the year. I wanted to blog after the wedding but you know me. The procrastinating me took over. (In fact I wanted to post this yesterday so that it would be 1 month after my birthday but I procrastinated again. As usual)

SO how is married life? Well, nothing much changed. Still need some time to get used to wearing a wedding band on my finger. Other than that, nothing much has changed.

Actually, one of the reasons why I didn’t post any reflections on my birthday this year is because I didn’t have much to say. Been spending the whole year planning for the wedding. And I’m just glad that the wedding went smoothly. Now that the wedding is over, it’s time for me to proceed with other plans that I’ve been putting aside.

So happy belated 43 to me (1 month and 1 day late).

And so we survived 2022. Covid didn’t manage to kill us all and I’m sure we can survive the incoming recession.

I know I’ve been neglecting this blog. Only blogged 6 times this year (including this post). It’s 2 more than last year but there is nothing to shout about when the total number of posts can be counted with 2 hands. I really need to do something about this. That’s what I said last year too. And that’s why I don’t do new year resolution.

I usually spend the last day of the year looking back. 2022 has been an eventful year. And time went past so quickly this year. So many things that I want to do but didn’t.

I’ve been telling myself this lately. Perfer et obdura, dolor hic tibi proderit olim. It means Be patient and tough, someday this pain will be useful to you. (Saw that on The Walking Dead season 6 before the show became horrible) The past few years have been tough. I don’t know where all these are going to lead me to next but I know these experience will be useful to me someday.

Let’s hope I find the answer soon. Have a great 2023. Happy New Year.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

They said that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. But at 42 years old, I still haven’t gotten life figured out, let alone the universe and everything. Maybe it’s impossible to find the ultimate answer.

Then again, what’s the question in the first place?

Perhaps we will only know the ultimate question and answer when we grow older and look back. Or perhaps we’ll never know. Nobody knows. And does it really matter?

My 8 year old iMac decided to die on me yesterday. Again. There was some issue with the motherboard in July but I managed to get it fixed. This time round, I’m not sure what gone wrong. Somehow I’m not really prepared to dump in more money to repair it. So I guess I’ll go computerless for a while. Or maybe get a MacBook Air. Sigh…. What a great way to start my birthday.

I have been neglecting my blog for way too long. Feel that I should start blogging more. Not sure if anyone is still reading. Then again, I never care if anyone is reading. I guess I just need to find the momentum to do it.

Not sure why but this year I don’t really have a song in mind. For the past few years, I’ve been listening to Forever Young during my birthday period for the past few year. (And Edge of Desire before that) But somehow I don’t have any song this year.

So happy 42 to me. Hopefully this is the year I find the answer to life, the universe and everything.

Wah lao eh! This DK ah, whole year only blog 4 times (including this post). Wah piang.

But seriously, where did 2021 go? It felt like December 2020 was just a few months ago. Now we are counting down to 2022. And I honestly thought that the pandemic will end by now. Well, looks like we are not done yet. I’m just hoping that 2022 will not be 2020 too even though it sounds the same.

I usually spend the last day of the year looking back. But somehow I don’t have much to look back this year. It’s not that I didn’t do anything. It’s just that 2021 is an average year to me. Nothing special. In fact kinda boring year. But at least there is nothing bad happening. And at a time like this, boring can sometimes be good.

I think I need to get my blogging momentum back. And update social media more. Been consuming and not creating for the whole of this year. Even my Instagram looks empty. But no, I’m not going to start going into TikTok. Not my kind of platform. Maybe I might try 小红书. Don’t know. See how.

I think 2022 is the time to explore new areas. Learn new things and try out stuff. The pandemic will end eventually and new opportunities will arise. Let’s be ready for the new world. The post pandemic world.

Have a great 2022. Happy new year. Stay safe.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

I was scrolling through my old blog (which is now sitting in my Synology NAS) and I realised that I’ve been doing these “end of year reflection” blog entry since 2005. Or maybe even longer since I started blogging since 2002. (I feel old talking about this) So I guess I’ll continue this tradition.

2020 was a horrible year. Nobody expected a global pandemic that would create a huge mess around the world. Sometimes I wonder how will the history textbook talk about Covid 19. We should have listened to Bill Gates.

I went to see a fortune tell back in late 2019 and he told me that 2020 will be a bad year for me. So bad that I would reach rock bottom. When he told me that, I didn’t really believe it. You see, 2019 was already quite bad for me. I was thinking that it couldn’t get any worse than that. I was wrong. Really really wrong.

So I went to see the same fortune teller again recently and told him that he was right about me hitting rock bottom in 2020. The good thing is that it is over. According to him, 2021 will be slightly better for me.

2020 was really an eye opener year for me. Even though it was a bad year, I get to experience a lot of new things. Got a part time job. Meet a lot of new people. And successfully applied for BTO. Should be moving to our new home in 4 years time if there’s no delays in the constructions. I think I’m going to love the view from my new home.

Let’s hope this pandemic will end soon so that life can go back to normal. I don’t know what’s in store for me in 2021. But if I can survive 2020, I’m sure I can handle all the challenges ahead.

2021 New Year countdown is going to be a different one. Unlike the past, there won’t be fireworks at Marina Bay. To minimise the crowd, there will be fireworks at 11 heartland locations. Covid 19 is not over yet. So stay safe while you celebrate.

And we have lots to celebrate. We survived 2020. That’s something worth celebrating. Happy new year!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne
We’ll tak’ a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.